Healthcare industry

California Controller John Chiang Monday released an actuarial report saying the state faces a $59.9 billion bill to pay for health care and dental benefits for state retirees over the next 30 years.

CHICAGO — The Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System, a small A-plus-rated provider in southern Illinois, began planning a $45 million bond issue early last fall. But after months of watching interest rates climb in the public market, the hospital decided to privately place the debt with a bank.

Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded Sierra Kings Health Care District’s general obligation bonds to Baa3 from Ba2 after a federal judge ruled that GO debt service cannot be interrupted by the district’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing.

Bonds issued by the Monongalia Building Commission on behalf of the Monongalia Health System in Morgantown have been upgraded to A-minus from BBB-plus by Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Finance Authority board advanced borrowing plans Tuesday for three central Illinois hospitals seeking to refund debt or raise funds for new projects, including $400 million for the Carle Foundation’s overhaul of its Urbana campus.

Cleveland Clinic chief executive officer and president Toby Cosgrove predicted the federal health care law would cost the prestigious facility $174 million in annual revenue beginning in 2015.

CHICAGO — Trinity Health Credit Group’s plan to buy Loyola University Health System should bolster the latter’s fiscal standing, though analysts say it’s too early to tell what impact the acquisition will have on Trinity’s balance sheet.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Thursday called for an indefinite freeze of the health care subsidy for city employee retirees, and urged the Board of Fire and Police Pension Commissioners to reject a proposed increase to retiree health care subsidies for sworn personnel.

CHICAGO — Bondholders owed more than $50 million by an Indiana hospital in receivership would receive a mere $3 million or less under a proposed sale of the facility’s most valuable assets.

The Internal Revenue Service has notified the Montana Facility Finance Authority that it has closed its audit of $14.15 million of variable-rate demand revenue bonds issued in 2002 without any change to the bonds’ tax-exempt status.

The Cincinnati City Council was poised to vote Tuesday on a number of changes to the city’s $2.1 billion pension system in an effort to tackle an estimated $1 billion shortfall.

The Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability is accepting proposals for consulting services through Friday to aid the state as it considers shifting more of the costs for retiree health care to beneficiaries.

The financially ailing Jackson Health System in South Florida could become the latest public nonprofit entity to be taken private despite an ongoing Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry believed to be related to bond disclosure issues.

TRENTON — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Tuesday released a $29.4 billion spending proposal for fiscal 2012 that includes property-tax relief — if the Legislature passes health-care reform legislation.

Moody's Investors Service dropped its rating to Ba3 from Ba1 on Garden City Hospital's long-term debt and said it will maintain its negative outlook even at the lower rating level.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service chief counsel’s office has issued guidance that sides with a conduit issuer in Montana and a retirement home operator in a four-year old dispute over whether some of the authority’s bonds are taxable.

Moody’s Investors Service last week revised its outlook on $650 million of outstanding A3-rated CareGroup Inc. bonds to positive from stable.

BRADENTON, Fla. — A new study of pension and health care liabilities confronting Florida’s cities and counties found that those annual combined costs made up an average of 8.1% of the spending by the state’s 67 counties and 8.3% of spending by 50 cities.

Two of the Chicago area’s biggest health-care providers are considering a merger that would create the largest Catholic hospital system in Illinois.

A $20 million grant from New York State is expected to repay $15.4 million of outstanding bonds issued for St. Joseph’s Hospital in Elmira to help finance a yet-to-be-completed merger with another hospital.